The Cult of Influencing: "The Algorithm Giveth, The Algorithm Taketh Away"

By high school, church wasn't just Shannon McElroy's faith, it was her community and her future. She was going to be a Christian counselor. Then her youth group took her to something called "Acquire t...

21 Sep 1h 20min

Daniella Mestyanek Young was born three generations deep into the Children of God and today, she finally gets out.  At 15-years-old, she lands in Texas with no real education, no money and no friggin'...

14 Sep 1h 13min

Daniella Mestyanek Young was born three generations deep into the Children of God, yet somehow, that was only the beginning.  She would go on to become a US Army intelligence officer, help make histor...

7 Sep 53min

At 21, Stephanie Vaughn wanted to make some extra money. Then she won a "raffle" at her gym for a free case of energy drinks. Lucky her, that free case won her entry into one of the biggest and most i...

24 Aug 1h 6min

Every cult calls itself a family. Audrey's actually was one.    For Audrey, there was no guru, no religious doctrine, and the only members were her ten other siblings. And the leader? Her parents, par...

17 Aug 1h 2min

**NOTE: This episode originally aired in 2024, but a LOT has happened inside this cult since then. None of it surprising, all of it sick, and we'll fill you in on all of it.     Jason Christian was bo...

10 Aug 1h 8min

Everyone gathered on the deck the day Yo promised the mothership was finally coming. They waited… but alas, it never came.  In PART 2, the magical fairy tale capsizes. Laurien becomes one of Yo's chos...

3 Aug 51min

Laurien had already been in one cult before she was old enough to understand what a cult was. At 22, she was invited onto a fleet of white "pleasure" yachts traveling the rivers of Europe, not knowing...

27 Juli 53min